Article of manufacture including a resinous coating



Sept. 28, 1965 M. R. SCHULTZ 3,208,795

ARTICLE OF MANUFACTURE INCLUDING A RESINOUS COATING Filed Sept. 24, 19632 Sheets-Sheet l 4 INVENTOR I 1- W055 fi/c/Mep Jc/Mrz BY 0 2% 6M p 1965M. R. SCHULTZ 3,208,795

ARTICLE OF MANUFACTURE INCLUDING A RESINOUS COATING Filed Sept. 24, 19632 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. M5: flaw/a0 Jam/z fwd W m United StatesPatent 3,208,795 ARTICLE OF MANUFACTURE INCLUDING A RESINOUS COATINGMoses R. Schultz, Barto, Pa, assignor to Knoll Associates Inc., NewYork, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed Sept. 24, 1963, Ser. No.312,249 11 Claims. (Cl. 297-445) This invention relates to articles ofmanufacture, such as metal furniture, comprised of members held together'by a tough resin coat enclosing a portion of or all of the outside ofthe members; and also to a process of 'making such articles. The use ofresins (plastics) in form of a protective surface coating on metals,etc., is well known. The resinous coating is applied not only to unitaryobjects such as sheets but also to complete rigid structures made up ofseveral members. Presently the members are ;fastened together bywelding, rivets, screws, solder, etc., to form a rigid, self-supportingstructure; the resinous coating is then applied to the rigid structurefor protective or decorative purposes. In the present usage, theresinous coating functions as a paint and does not contribute, or is notintended to contribute, to the rigidity of the final structure.

The fastening operation imposes a cost consideration of magnitude formany structures which require a number of individual members to befastened together, e.g., a metal chair made up of rods or tubes andpanels. Some designs are impractical for manufacture by the presentlyknown techniques. '1 An object of the invention is a rigid article ofmanufacture made up of a plurality of individual members which membersare not permanently fastened to each other even though rigidly boundtogether. Another object of the invention is a process for bindingtogether a plurality of members to form a substantially rigid articleWithout first fastening the members into a rigid assembly.

It has been discovered a rigid article of manufacture is obtained when aplurality of substantially rigid members are placed in contiguousrelation and said members are then bound into substantially rigidassociation by enclosing a sufiicient portion of the outside surface ofthe contiguous portion of said members with a tough, adherent resinouscoating this adherent tough coating raffords essentially all of theconstraint needed to maintain the article in the desired rigidassociation.

The article of manufacture of this invention, broadly, consistsessentially of a plurality of substantially rigid members in contiguousrelation and a tough coating of resinous material enclosing and adheringto at least a sufficient portion of the outside contiguous surface ofsaid members to afitord essentially all the constraint needed to bindsaid members into substantially rigid association.

In a preferred embodiment the entire outside surface of the article isenclosed by the tough, adherent binding coat of resinous material. Thisembodiment is accurately described by the old saying, Nothings holdingit together but the paint.

FIGURE 1 show a section of a joint binding two flat plates (or rods)into rigid association.

FIGURE 2 shows a metal base, in perspective, for a table constructedaccording to the invention.

FIGURE 3 shows a section at 33 of FIG. 2 of the vertical post of thebase.

FIGURE 4 shows a section at 4-4 of FIG. 2 of side segments and a metalpanel of the foot of the base.

FIGURE 5 shows a back perspective view of a metal chair frameconstructed according to the invention.

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FIGURE 6 shows a front view of the chair of FIG. 5.

The invention is described in connection with the embodiments shown inthe figures but it is to be understood, these are illustrative only andthe invention is not limited thereto.

FIGURE 1 shows a section of a part of an elongated article comprised ofelongated member 12, elongated member 14 and reinforcing enlongatedmembers 16 and 18. Members 12 and 14 are substantially rigid in form andreinforcing members 16 and 14 also are substantially rigid; although notnecessarily as rigid as members 12 and 14. Members 12 and 14 are incontiguous relation at point 20, although because of the presence ofmembers 16 and 18, a gap might be present and acceptable. Reinforcingmember 16 is in contiguous relation with members 12 and 14 at line 22;reinforcing member 18 is in contiguous relation with members 12 and 14at line 24. The presence of the reinforcing members 16 and 18strengthens the joint against angular movement of either elongatedmember 12 or 14. A bevel or overlapping joint would ordinarily notrequire such reinforcement. In some cases, even a butt joint will besufiiciently strong.

The structure formed by members 12 and 14 and reinforcing members 16 and18 is bound into substantially rigid association by coating 30. Herecoating 30 is adhered to and encloses the outside surface of reinforcingmembers 16 and 18 and a portion of the outside surfaces of elongatedmembers 12 and 14. Coating 30 extends along the lengths of the twoelongated members 12 and 14 a distance at least sufiicient to provideessentially all of the constraint needed to bind the structure showninto substantially rigid association.

Coating 30 is formed from a resinous material capable of adhering to theoutside surfaces of members 12, 14, 16 and 18 and is characterized by atoughness suitable for this purpose. The thickness of coating 30 isdeterminated by the characteristics of the resinous material and by thestrength desired in the final article of manufacture.

The structure of FIGURE 1 can be also described as two rods inend-to-end butted relation with a reinforcing tube at the buttedposition.

The members can be any material of construction which will permit theformation of the resinous coating 30 without detriment to the strengthor appearance of said material. The invention is particularly suited forthe binding of metal members into substantially rigid associationbecause it simultaneously binds and imparts surface protection thereto.The invention is especially adapted for binding two diverse materialstogether, such as glass and metal or two metals.

The resinous material which forms the tough, adherent coating 30 may beany resin, natural or synthetic, which can be applied to the particularsurface to form a coating having the necessary adhesive power andtoughness for structural strength. Taking into consideration therequirements of adhesion and toughness, virtually any of those resinsnow known for metal coating, either for surface protection orinsulation, can be used to construct the article of this invention. Theresins fall into the two categories: thermoplastic polymeric resins andthermosetting polymeric resins.

Illustrative classes and species of suitable resins are: acetal resins;acrylic resins; cellulose esters, such as cellulose acetate, celluloseacetate butyrate and cellulose propionate; cellulose ethers such asethyl cellulose and hydroxyethyl cellulose; chlorinated polyethers;fluorocarbons such as polytetrafluoroethylene,polychlorotrifluoroethylene, Teflon copolymer; polyamides such as 0nylon; polyaryl carbonate polymer (polycarbonate); polvinyl chloride,polyvinyl acetate, vinyl chloride-acetate copolymer,vinylidine chloride;linear aromatic copolyesters; allyl resins such as diallyl phthalate;amino resins such as urea-formaldehyde, melamine resins; epoxy resinssuch as epoxy-phenolic combinations, epoxy-urea combinations,epoxy-polyamine combinations, epoxy-polyamide combinations; furanresins; silicone resins; unsaturated polyester resins;phenol-formaldehyde resins.

These resins may be used in the pure forms such as rigid polyvinylchloride, polyamide, or cellulosics; or they may be made to be used inthe'plasticized states (plastisols). For furniture construction theplastisols are preferred, as especially the cellulose acetate butyrateand vinyl polymers, such as polyvinyl acetate and polyvinylchloride-acetate copolymer.

The resins may be used as is or they may have inert fillers and/ orpigments incorporated therein. Any of the fillers, such as silica, orpigments, such as carbon and titanium dioxide, known to this art may bepresent.

The article of the invention is made by a process which comprisesassembling a plurality of substantially rigid members in contiguousrelation (in FIG. 1, members 12 and 14, or members 12, 14 and 16, ormembers 12, 14, 16 and 18) and adhering a tough coating (in FIG. 1,coating 30) of resinous materials thereto so as to enclose at least asufficient portion of the outside con tiguous surfaces of said membersto bind the assembly into substantially rigid association; said coatingaffording essentially all of the needed constraint of said members.

The contiguous portion need not have actual contact of the two membersalong its entire length. Small deviations from linearity of the surfacesresult in gaps in the touching line; these gaps do not interfere withthe formation of a substantially rigidly associated article. There neednot be an actual touching of the two surfaces as the resin coatingbridges small gaps and still forms a rigidly associated article.

A substantially rigid member is one which can support its own weightwithout significant bending; for example, a length of steel tube or rod;or a metal sheet which may bow a little when theplanar-area is largewith respect to its thickness. A substantially rigidly associatedarticle is one which has the strength needed to perform its expectedfunction without significant deformation; for example, a stool, chair,table support, girder, assembly of girders and bar and panelconstruction.

The members forming the article before coating are held in the desiredrelationship by some means in itself not suflicient to give thenecessary rigidity to the final article. The members may be lightly heldtogether by tack welds, solder, screws, or cements such as the epoxyresin cements, forming an insubstantial structure. These means merelyhold the assembly together with suflicient strength to permit handlingto and through the coating operations. The real work of binding themember into rigid association for the ultimate use of the article isperformed by the tough adherent resinous material coat.- mg.

The resinous material is applied to the desired portion L of the outsidesurface of the assembled members by a technique which results in theformation of a tough, adherent coating. In the simplest procedure, asolution of the resin may be brushed, sprayed or flowed onto thesurface. If needed, the surface may be given a pretreatment toimport toor to increase adhesion of the resin. The solution may be heated or thesurface may be heated to obtain the desired coating.

The flame spraying techniques wherein a solid or plastisol is melted andsprayed onto a surface is particularly suitable when only a designatedportion(s) of the surface of the assembly is to be resin coated. Alsothis technique is suitable for use on assemblies of large area or volumewhere a thick coating can be laid down in a single pass and large areas,uch as in b il ing 9011- struction, covered in a short time. One variantof this technique is described in US. Patent No. 2,920,001 grantedJanuary 5, 1960.

The presently widely used fluidized bed resin coating process isespecially suitable for. ,smaller assemblies and assemblies where theentire outside surface is to be enclosed by the resin coating. Variantsof this process are described in US. Patents No. 2,974,060, grantedMarch 7, 1961; 2,981,631, April 25, 1961; 2,987,413, June 6, 1961;3,004,861, October 17, 1961; 3,032,816, May 8, 1962; and 3,085,034,April 9, 1963. A small size unit for this process is described inElectrical Engineer p. 117 et. seq., February 1963.

Because of their high melting points the fluorocarbon resins presentspecial difiiculties. Techniques for coating metals with these resinsare described in US. Patents No. 2,789,926, granted April 23, 1957 and2,893,900, July 7, 1959. US. Patent No. 2,967,786 granted January 10,1961 described a technique for coating metal surfaces with lineararomatic polyesters such as Dacron polyester and like esters. US. PatentNo. 2,550,232, granted April 24, 1951 described a method of increasingthe adhesion of vinyl resin dispersions to metal surfaces.

It is to be understood the above listed coating techniques areillustrative only and the process of the invention is not limitedthereto.

FIGURES 2, 3, and 4 illustrates a table support assembled from elongatedmembers and plate panel members. The table support shown is made up offour quadrants 50, 52, 54 and 56. Each quadrant is made up of afanshaped foot and a vertical elongated portion. For example, inquadrant 50, the foot is made up of arcuate segment 60, two sidesegments, 62 and 64 and fan shaped panel 68; the vertical portion 66consists of two linear contiguous segments segments 60, 62, 64 andportion 66 are formed from a single cylindrical rod. Similarly quadrant52 is made up of arcuate segment 70, side segments 72 and 74, panel 78and a vertical portion 76 (FIG. 3). Similarly quadrant 56 is made up ofarcuate segment 80, side segments 82 and 84, panel 88 and a verticalportion 86 (FIG. 3). To avoid overcrowding the figure quadrant 54 is notnumbered but is similar to the other three. 7

The adjacent side members of the assembled table support are in alateral and contiguous relation (FIG. 4) for substantially their radiallength. The four vertical portions are laterally contiguous (FIG. 3) forsubstantially their vertical height. The side segments might be of aconfiguration other than linear, for decorative reasons, but would stillhave a contiguous relation for a substantial part of their lengths,i.e., contiguous lengths sufficient to attain the final desired rigidityof the table support. Also vertical portions might be curvilinear fordecorative reasons and contiguous only for a substantial portion oftheir vertical height.

In FIGURES 2 and 4, plate panels 68, 78 and 88 are inset below the topof the side and arcuate segments and fill the entire fan of eachquadrant. For some tables no panels need be present or only two panelsmight be present. Herein panels 68 etc. are cut to fit so as to have anedge-contiguous relation with the full length of arcuate segment 60 andside segments 62 and 64. For decorative purposes there may be cut-outsin the edges; however the remaining partial edge-contiguous relationmust be at least long enough to attain the desired rigidity between thepanel and the quadrant foot.

It is not necessary that the entire fan of each quadrant be filled, oneor more bridging plates may be placed in the fan in spaced relation foreconomy of metal or for decorative reasons.

The panel 68 neednot be inset as shown, it may be placed on top of thearcuate and side segments 60, 62 and 64 to provide edge-contiguousrelation with the arcuate segment 60 and the side edges; of the adjacentpanels; in another the panel may be positioned on the bottom of thequadrant foot.

The quadrants 50, 52, 54 and 56 are assembled into a lateral arrangementhaving a contiguous relation of fans (side segments) and verticalportions. This assembly is lightly held together by dabs of epoxy resincement or a tack weld. Panels 68, etc., are inset into the quadrant feetand held lightly in place by dabs of epoxy resin cement.

When the entire metal table support assembly is to be resin coated,preferably, it is heated in a furnace to a suitable temperature and thenimmersed into a fluidized mass of pulverulent resin particles for a timenecessary to adhere to the metal a coating of the desired thickness. Thecoated assembly is than removed from the fluidized bed and the resinparticles adhered to the surfaces permitted to fuse into a toughadherent coating 89 which binds the assembly into a substantially rigidstructure. It may be necessary to provide a post-bake or cure heating toform the desired tough, adherent coating.

A coating of cellulose acetate butyrate plastisol on the table supportof the figures only inch thick bound the assembly into a structure rigidenough for use as a table support in domestic household service.

For some table constructions, it may not be necessary to enclose all theoutside surfaces of the table support to obtain a substantially rigidassociation of members. Flame spraying permits encircling the contiguousvertical portions with a number of encircling bands spaced along theheight of the vertical post. Strips of resin coating can be adheredalong the tops and bottoms of the contiguous portions at the sidesegments and the arcuate segments.

These strips extend into the panels a distance at least suflicient toafford essentially all the constraint needed to bind the quadrants andthe panels into substantially rigid association.

This procedure permits a decorative effect to be obtained by selectionof the resin coloring and the metal surface color; or to have two ormore differently colored resin coatings present.

A table top may be formed from a quadrant of tubes and panels such asused in the table support foot; a female coupling may be adhered to thebottom center of the topthe whole bound together by a resin coatingapplied for instance, by the fluidized resin technique.

FIGURES 5 and 6 illustrate a metal chair frame assembled from sixelongated members and two plate panel members. The elongated memberswere fashioned from metal tubes. Tube 90 is roughly U-shaped to formpart of the rear chair legs structure, segments 92 and 94, and backsupport segments 96, 98 and 100. Tube 102 is shaped to form part of theback support, segments 104, 105 and 106, part ofthe seat supportsegments 108 and 110, and part of the front leg structure, segments 112and 114. A front elongated member 120 is roughly U- shaped and formspart of the seat support, segment 122, and parts of the front legstructures, segments 124 and 126. A rear roughly U-shaped elongatedmember 130 forms part of the seat support, segment 132, and parts of therear leg structures, segments .134 and 136. A side roughly U-shapedelongated member 140 forms part of the seat support, segment 142, andpart of the front and rear leg supports, segments 144 and 146respectively. Similarly another side roughly U-shaped elongated member150 forms part of the seat support, segment 152, and part of the frontand rear leg structures, segment 154 and 156 respectively. Two platepanel members 160 and 162 are inset at the sides of the frame betweensegments 108 and 142 and segments 110 and 152 respectively.

The elongated members are assembled to form seat support, leg structuresand back support. Elongated members 90 and 102 are so placed thatcorresponding segments 96104, 98-106, and 100-105 in the back supportare contiguous for almost their entire lengths. Preferably the threesegments which form each leg structure are contiguous in a compacttriangle for almost their entire vertical height. The edges of panelsand 162 are inset and contiguous with the corresponding segments andportions of segments of the elongated members, as shown in the figures.The assembly is lightly held together by dabs of epoxy resin cements andthen the entire out-side surfaces enclosed with a resin coating by thefluidized bed process as described in connection with FIGS. 2-4. A inchcoating of cellulose actate butyrate plastisol bound the chair assemblyinto a rigid structure suitably for normal use as a chair.

While the chair frame assembly of FIGS. 5 and 6 shows a contiguousrelation over substantially the entire lengths of the legs, the back andthe periphery of the panels, this is not necessary to attain the desiredrigidity. As was stated in connection with FIGS. 2-4, the contiguousrelation here need be only for a sufiicient distance to afford theconstraint needed to bind the assembly into substantially rigidassociation.

A unitary chair can be made by the process of the invention. A metalseat and a metal back can be placed in contiguous relation with the seatsupport and back support respectively. The seat and back can then bebound to the frame by a resin coating at the same time the frameassembly is brought into rigid association by the resin coating.

It is to be understood the invention is not limited to the structures ofthe figures. The invention is particularly suitable for the buildingconstruction industry where beam and panel curtain walls are now widelyused. Sections of wall may be pre-fabricated in a shop and then formedinto the final rigid resin coating bound structure by, for example,flame spraying on the construction site. Thus a quiet constructionprocess is obtained. Box girders can be built up of long plates andshort cross-bars in the shop and field assembled and bound to formframework which need not be concealed by wall coverings, givingsimultaneously structural strength and surface protection by means ofthe resin coating thereon. Other uses of the invention can be readilydevised by workers in this art.

Thus having described the invention what is claimed is:

1. An article suitable for use in furniture manufacture, which articleconsists essentially of:

a plurality of substantially rigid elongated members, assembled to formthe frame of said article, said assembly providing a contiguous relationof a sub stantial length of at least two of said members and asuflicient number of said contiguous relations to obtain the desiredrigidity of said article; and a tough coating of resinous materialenclosing and adhering to at least a sufiicient portion of the outsidesurfaces of said contiguous relations to afford essentially all theconstraint needed to bind said assembly into substantially rigidassociation.

2. The article of claim 1 Where said assembly includes plate members;

each of said plate members having at least partial edgecontiguousrelation with at least one of said elongated members; and

said tough coating of resinous material enclosing and adhering to theoutside surfaces of at least a sufficient length of said edge-contiguousrelations and said contiguous relations to afford essentially all theconstraint needed to bind said assembly into substantially rigidassociation.

3. A metal chair frame consisting essentially of:

an assembly of elongated metal members forming chair leg structure and aseat support;

each leg structure including at least two elongated members having acontiguous relation for a substantial part of the leg; and

a tough coating of resinous material enclosing and adhering to at leasta suflicient length of said contiguous relation of each leg structure toafford essentially all the constraint needed to bind said assembly intosubstantially rigid association. 4. The frame of claim 3 where saidresinous coating encloses and adheres to all the outside surfaces ofsaid assembly. I 5. The frame of claim 3 wherein said assembly includesan elongated member back support, said back support having a contiguousrelation with a substantial length of at least one leg member of two ofsaid legs; and being constrained by said coating which encloses andadheres to said leg structures.

6. The frame of claim 5 wherein said coating encloses and adheres to allthe outside surfaces of said assembly.

7. The frame of claim 3 wherein said seat support includes, at each sideportion of said seat support, a pair of substantially horizontalelongated members in vertical spaced relation;

metal panel members pairs of horizontal elongated members, havingedgecontiguous relation with said horizontalelongated members; and 1said coating enclosing and adhering to at least a sufficient length ofsaid edge-contiguous relation to bind said panel-members into saidframe.

8. The frame of claim 7 wherein said coating encloses and adheres to allthe outside surfaces of said assembly.

9. A table support consisting essentially of:

a plurality of elongated members, each formed, into a vertical portionand a foot portion extending at an angle to the vertical portion;

said elongated members being arranged in a lateral contiguous relationof foot portions and vertical portions; and

a tough coating of resinous material enclosing and adhering the outsidesurfaces of at least a sufficient length of said vertical portions toafford essentially positioned between each of said.

all the constraint needed to bind said members into substantially rigidassociation.

10. A table support consisting essentially of:

a plurality of elongated members, each formed into a fan-shaped foot anda vertical portion;

said elongated members being arranged in a lateral contiguous relationof fans and vertical portions;

a plurality of plate-members each adapted to be supported by one of saidfan shaped feet, positioned to bridgeand having edge-contiguous relationwith the corresponding fan-shaped opening;

and a tough coating of resinous material enclosing and adhering theoutside surfaces of at least a sufficient length of said edge-contiguousrelation and of said contiguous relations to afford essentially all theconstraint needed to bind said support into substantially rigidassociation.

11. The support for claim 10 wherein said coating encloses and adhere-sto all of the outside surfaces of said support.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 596,217 12/97Rapp 108-150 1,208,628 12/ 16 Nutrizio 108-150 2,311,613 2/43 Slayter 2117-126 2,467,664 4/49 Glenn 297-445 2,757,111 7/56 Henderson 156-1802,805,522 8/57 Collet 160-84 2,926,729 3 Zanini -231 2,948,649 8/60Pan-cherz 156-180 2,975,827 3/61 Mauser 297-445 2,977,630 4/61 ,Bazler156-180 3,083,056 3/63 Ward.

FRANK B. SHERRY, Primary Examiner.

1. AN ARTICLE SUITABLE FOR USE IN FURNITURE MANUFACTURE, WHICH ARTICLECONSISTS ESSENTIALLY OF: A PLURALITY OF SUBSTANTIALLY RIGID ELONGATEDMEMBERS, ASSEMBLED TO FORM THE FRAME OF SAID ARTICLE, SAID ASSEMBLYPROVIDING A CONTIGUOUS RELATION OF A SUBSTANTIAL LENGTH OF AT LEAST TWOOF SAID MEMBERS AND A SUFFICIENT NUMBER OF SAID CONTIGUOUS RELATIONS TOOBTAIN THE DESIRED RIGIDLY OF SAID ARTICLE; AND A TOUGH COATING OFRESINOUS MATERIAL ENCLOSING AND ADHERING TO AT LEAST A SUFFICIENTPORTION OF THE OUTSIDE SURFACES OF SAID CONTIGUOUS RELATIONS TO AFFORDESSENTIALLY ALL THE CONSTRAINT NEEDED TO BIND SAID ASSEMBLY INTOSUBSTANTIALLY RIGID ASSOCIATION.